


We Never Found The Answer But We Knew One Thing

by deandratb



Series: The Best of the Best and the Worst of the Worst [2]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, unrelated pieces of different stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-27 02:22:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15676092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/pseuds/deandratb
Summary: Unfinished stories from The West Wing that may or may not be pulled out of this collection and completed someday. Read at your own risk; I just needed them to have a more-organized home.





	1. The World Is At Your Fingertips

**Author's Note:**

> These are INCOMPLETE stories. These scenes have been sitting in my drafts waiting for me to finish them, and have not been betaed, so please keep that in mind if you read.
> 
> You're welcome to give your opinion and I don't mind if you ask me to return to working on the ones you like--just be aware that I might never do so. :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cab ride that takes the group back from Donna's apartment during Inauguration Day, Part 2.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This standalone fic would be an expansion of the fifth scene in [this story.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6567859)

It was all started by the snow. It made sense at the time, he thought, to throw snowballs. She wasn’t answering her phone, and at least snow wouldn’t break her window. The adrenaline rush when he hit the window first had to have addled his brain, made him more susceptible to things he never thought about. How her skin glowed, say, or how soft her mouth looked. He never would’ve told her how amazing she looked if he’d been in his right mind.

In the cab, she sat across his lap, her shoulders against the window. As Charlie and Toby discussed their attempts to win back their exes, and Danny cracked jokes, she held her breath, holding as still as she could.

They were never this close.

They’d been friends for years, sure. And the nature of their jobs meant they spent a lot of time together–sharing hotel rooms on the road, getting ready for government functions–but they kept a deliberate distance, a hand’s length that separated them at all times. Of course they’d never discussed it–they’d never needed to–but it had always been there, ever since he gave her his press pass and she saw him watching her from the doorway while she fielded his calls.

She didn’t know what he’d thought of her when they’d met. Probably that she was crazy, or seriously pathetic. But she’d taken one look at him, looking at her, and recognized trouble when she saw it.

After four years of picking up his dry cleaning and stealing his food, she’d forgotten why that distance had been self-imposed in the first place. Now she remembered. She was definitely in trouble.

Josh fought to focus in on the discussion happening next to him, but he kept accidentally looking at her. There was always a sort of humming energy between them if they got too close, something he tried not to think about. Something he refused to define. It seemed like lately she was messing with him, brushing past him with files, asking him direct questions she knew he wouldn’t answer, always with this look in her eyes he’d never seen before. Almost like a challenge. And now here she was, way too close, smelling better than anyone should smell. He kept glancing up at her against his better judgement, until in a crucial moment, she glanced back at him.

Looking away, she bit her lower lip, and he realized then how stiffly she was resting against him. Ducking his head, he smiled, relieved that maybe he wasn’t the only one feeling awkward. Overly aware.

As the conversation grew louder, wrapping itself around them, the cab hit a pothole, jarring Donna from her careful position. She fell against his chest, closing those few remaining inches that had kept them from making a mistake. His arm wrapped around her side automatically, and he kept it there, telling himself that he couldn’t be blamed for a reflex. Assuring himself that he was just steadying her until she moved away. Hoping that she wouldn’t.

Donna looked carefully at the floor of the cab, unwilling to find out if Josh was looking at her. She waited for one of the guys to notice where Josh’s hand was–just above her hip, his fingers splayed over her stomach-- _how had she never realized how warm his hands were before?_ \--but the awkward, mortifying moment never came. 

Why would it, she asked herself realistically, when they’d always been close? When most of the the West Wing was as good at not seeing what was there as they were? And the ones that did were wise enough to keep it to themselves. Toby had delivered the news at the hospital directly to her: he’d seen her face, he had to know. Danny was the reason they’d come to get her tonight, his entire career was based on putting things together no one else had. And Charlie…well, Charlie was pretty distracted lately, but she knew he was more observant than he let on.

As Josh responded to something Toby had said– _how could he even be still tuned in to the conversation, she had no idea what he’d been asked_ –she inched to the left. Swallowing hard, she crossed the holy line of demarcation and rested her hand on his back. She finally looked up when Josh didn’t move away, just to be sure, and found his eyes locked on her face, even as he continued to talk to Toby as though nothing were happening. As though the world hadn’t shifted, leaving everything irreversibly altered. 

His eyes had darkened in a way she’d never seen before, and Donna swore she felt the cab get smaller, shrinking to fit only the two of them, before Charlie nudged her and she realized she’d missed a question.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said, I need a woman’s opinion. Just because a guy is royalty doesn’t mean you can’t see him for the tool he is, right?”

She grinned at his hopeful tone, replying honestly, “Sometimes it takes a while, but we catch the losers for who they are eventually. Then we go looking for the good guy.”

He turned back to Toby, and she marveled at how much was exactly the same, now that so much was different. Couldn’t they see just by looking at her? Donna was reasonably certain that her skin was flushed down to her toes. 

She resisted the urge to cuddle up a little, feeling like for this moment in time all the rules had been suspended. She did, however, lift her hand, which was concealed by the angle of his back, up slowly to rest at the nape of Josh's neck. She let her fingers tangle in his hair, and she managed to keep a fairly blank expression when his hand dug into her stomach a little harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title borrowed from "South London Forever" by Florence and the Machine.


	2. I Cannot Get You Close Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set during 20 Hours In America. While Toby's off thinking deep political thoughts before their shuttle arrives, Josh offers an apology and Donna makes a move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A deleted scene fic that explains the strangely soft tone of their first scene together in "College Kids"...which I like to think was due to a one-night stand during 20 Hours In America that's never spoken of again.

About fifteen minutes after the guys left, Josh came back to interrupt Donna's careful printing of condolences next to bar napkins and bowls of peanuts. Rubbing a hand over his face, he didn't sit--just waited until she looked up at him, still annoyed. 

"I'm sorry," he said.

She set her pen down. An apology from Josh Lyman was a rare thing. Donna lifted an eyebrow, inviting him to continue.

“I got into this to help people. I know I talk like I want to rule the world, but it’s because I want to make this a better country for the people that really need it, and you kind of have to be in charge to do that.”

She softened. She always did with Josh; she knew him too well--and loved him too much--to hold a grudge. 

"I know you want to help, Josh," she replied. "But winning won't help anybody, if you forget why people voted you in."

He nodded, and the silence between them was back to normal. Sometimes, it was that simple: she talked and he listened, and she knew he really heard what she needed him to hear. 

Flashing her a smile, Josh walked off again. She returned to work.

After Donna had finished writing all the letters to family members, she went looking for Josh. Toby had gone up to his room, seeming preoccupied with something when he passed her on the way, so she found Josh in the bar, sitting alone more than he was drinking, as was his way. She would have been shocked if he’d had anything stronger than the half a bottle of beer in his hand–he’d be nearly passed out, something he usually avoided in unfamiliar places. 

Sliding onto the seat next to his, she tossed her messy hair back from her face and gave him her best cajoling look.

“Josh…” she began.

“Yes?” he replied, knowing her too well.

“Buy me a drink?”

“Sure,” he answered easily, about to signal to the bartender for another.

“No beer, please.” She stopped him. “I can’t get the song out of my head. Buy me a shot?”

Donna watched his forehead wrinkle–this was new–but he obliged. She chased it with Coke and wheedled another out of him before he refused to keep funding her attempt to forget.

Josh walked her up to the room after that, noting Toby’s absence without much surprise. He’d probably gone looking for a spot where he could legally smoke a cigar before they caught the shuttle.

She headed for the bathroom as soon as they entered, so Josh flopped down on one of the beds, keeping an ear out for sounds that meant she was getting sick. As he didn’t hear any, he relaxed, eventually drifting off without realizing it.

He found himself in an incredible dream. It was Donna, all leggy and warm, wrapping herself around him, running her hands under his shirt.

When he felt her teeth graze his ear, he woke up, to find out he hadn’t been dreaming. His immediate reaction was embarrassingly male.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it, after all–in rare moments, usually late at night–and it was better than he’d told himself not to think about it being. Reason couldn’t help taking a back seat to turned on.

He pulled her head back by her hair, away from his face enough that he could close the distance between them with his mouth. Incredibly, this was their first kiss. 

As friendly as they were, it was the areas where they tread cautiously that marked how different their relationship was from friendship. They hugged, but they had never shaken hands. They shared adjoining hotel rooms, but they had never shared even a kiss on the cheek. He’d danced with her at every major Presidential function, but they’d never sat close enough to touch, even at the Hawk and Dove when they were buzzed and sloppy. It was a crucial wall that had just been shattered, and in that one kiss Josh saw an alternate future stretch out before him, one where he didn’t spend his days trying not to touch her.

Then Donna moaned against his mouth and he crashed into reality. He pulled himself back, gripping the bedspread to prevent his hands from moving back to her face like she was now magnetic North. While her eyes fluttered open, he told himself he was doing the right thing. She was already drunk. It was possible she didn’t even realize who she was with, or at least that she might not realize she was conscious right now.

Ignoring the implications of that theory– _did she have dreams about him too? did she think about him when she wasn't dreaming?_ –he climbed off the bed, waiting for her to speak first.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her eyes a darker but steady blue as she watched him pace.

“We can’t do this,” he replied, not meeting her gaze.

Donna had been about to leave the bed to go to him, but now she froze. Suddenly she was cold. “Why?”

“Because we’ll regret it. Because Toby will be back soon. Because…” He looked at her and lost the rest of his sentence. Her eyes were shining, despite the stubborn set of her mouth as she avoided his gaze. He couldn’t bear it.

“Hey,” he said softly, crouching down to be level with her.

“You’re such a liar,” she snapped. “Why not stop with the excuses? I made a move. All you have to do is say you’re not interested.”

Slowly, seeing his way out of something that could wreck the both of them, he stood up. “I’m not interested.”

He was prepared for angry tears. He was prepared for her to shrug it off, to return to pretending they were best friends. He was in no way prepared for her to burst out laughing.

Bewildered, he stepped back when she stood up, shoulders still shaking.

“You’re not just a liar, you’re a terrible one. You kissed me, Josh. That was not disinterest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title borrowed from "100 Years" by Florence and the Machine.


	3. You Can Always Find Me Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna stays by his side while Josh recovers from the Rosslyn shooting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This standalone fic would be an expansion of the second scene in [this story.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6567859)

Donna sits with him while Francine, his in-home nurse, goes to get his pills and the lunch he’ll take them with.

He is in and out, healing but still heavily medicated. She visits daily, juggling the responsibilities of his office with her need to see him still alive, still breathing.

At his bedside Donna is all business, refusing to let him see how scared she was, refusing to make it worse.

If she occasionally falls into what-if sobbing or quietly grateful tears while he’s sleeping, no one needs to know.

With the television running C-SPAN quietly in the background, Josh looks at Donna through his drug haze and offers her his best attempt at a charming smile. “Extra pillow?”

His mussed hair and hopeful expression make her smile as she brings it over and carefully adds it to the arrangement behind him. Josh grimaces when she leans back, grabbing her hand before she can step away.

“It hurts,” he tells her, eyes fixed on her face.

She nods and resists the urge to pull her hand away. Their relationship is defined as much by what they carefully avoid than by what they actually do or say. But he’s vulnerable now, without his usual defenses, and she can withstand the slips that have become more common. He won’t remember them anyway.

“I know,” Donna finally replies. “It’s going to hurt for a while.”

It has hurt them all, punched a hole through their administration and their family that none of them have fully healed from.

It’ll be hell for him, she thinks, as his hand lays on hers near the heart that refused to stop beating.

There’s nothing Donna can do to stop that from hitting him, any more than she could stop a bullet in the middle of a crowd. But she’s not going anywhere.

“I know,” she tells him again. Her other hand rises to rest on his cheek, just for a moment. Just long enough to meet him on the other side of that uncrossable line.

There are so few ways Donna is really able to help, she’ll do what she can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "100 Years" by Florence and the Machine.


	4. Still My Heart Is Heavy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna and Josh share breakfast and family stories; she learns his father isn't the first loss in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One tiny part of what will someday be the third story in [this series.](https://archiveofourown.org/series/827601) This installment would involve him talking to her about Joanie, laying the groundwork for Donna's future argument with Amy about not understanding Josh.

Josh drowned his waffles in syrup and butter, then waved the fork at her after swallowing his first bite. “Is there cinnamon in these?”

“Just a pinch. It’s my grandmother’s recipe.”

“It’s good.” He dug back in.

Donna grinned, pleased. “She always says, ‘a little heat, a little sweet, will give you something good to eat.’”

“You know what my father would say? He’d say, stop being an idiot.”

“What do you mean?”

“Wallowing, moping, it wasn’t his style--or what he expected from me. ‘Joshua,’ he would say, ‘get your act together so you can focus on your mother and electing the next president of the United States.’“

She put an arm around him. “You can do those things and mourn, too, you know. It doesn’t have to be either-or.”


	5. Open Prompt Collection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A storage space for all the ideas I haven't begun writing yet but want to save for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of these ideas are prompts I received via tumblr that I don't expect write anytime soon. If anything you see here inspires you to write something, please link me to it! I would love to know.

Minific: the West Wing family fluff

Minific: immediate aftermath of Toby running up to Josh after he was shot, with CJ and Sam

Post-series fluffy domestic kid!fic

The Greatest Showman AU: Jed is the circus owner whose wife Abbey has to deal with his need for the spotlight and the secrets he keeps from her. Zoey is their youngest daughter who tries to woo one of her father's star acrobats. Charlie and his sister Deena are the show's star acrobats. Donna is one of the background acrobats and dancers, while Josh is the junior partner in the circus who falls for her. CJ is the animal wrangler. Toby is the crotchety reviewer.

Abbey and Jed as surrogate parents to the staff or to the staff's kids

CJ x Toby, pre-series: "just like way back in the days of old"

CJ x Toby, they get drunk and forget they work together: CJ puts on music and starts dancing, demands that Toby join her

CJ x Toby, plot TBD 

Donna x Amy, unexpected developments during Commencement

Donna x Kate, post-Gaza

Josh x Donna knocking on the wrong door AU (fix-it fic for King Corn): "then i tried to catch you but we're always on the move" 

Josh x Donna, Donna getting death threats + protective Josh 

Josh x Donna roommates AU

Josh x Donna meeting at a support group AU 

Josh x Donna pretending to hate each other AU

Josh x Donna, kisses because I missed you and you really shouldn’t stay away so long

Josh x Donna: Josh introduces Donna to some smarmy guy at a gala who starts referring to her as a trophy wife and Josh is FUMING on her behalf

Josh x Donna, Holy Night AU (planned sequel)

Josh x Donna, Josh enraptured by his and Donna’s daughter 

Josh x Donna, fluffy domestic with kids 

Josh x Donna, jealous smut 

Josh x Donna, fake relationship 

Josh x Donna, the first time Josh tells Donna he loves her

Josh x Donna first kiss, leading to their first night together

Josh x Donna, Donna notices Josh has put on weight and pokes fun at him 

Josh x Donna, growing old together + friends

Josh x Donna, their friends finding out about them getting together 

Josh x Joey Lucas, plot TBD

Josh x Sam, plot TBD

Ainsley Hayes, working in the Santos administration (planned sequel) 

Donnatella Moss, friendship fic with the West Wing women 

Josh and Sam getting told off for their smug condescension

The West Wing / Boston Legal crossover

The West Wing / The Newsroom crossover: a TWW character getting interviewed by Will

The West Wing / The Newsroom crossover: Ainsley & Sloan interacting romantically or platonically

The West Wing / The Newsroom crossover: Mac and Donna as BFFs 

**Author's Note:**

> Story title borrowed from "Hunger" by Florence and the Machine.


End file.
